This week for the Featured PE Teacher section on the PE Central Facebook page, the spotlight is on Shannon Rickes!
About Shannon Rickes:
I currently teach Kindergarten through 8th grade. I am a Physical Education Coordinator and I teach approximately 300 students in the school at Joy Preparatory Academy in Detroit Michigan. I’m a new teacher, this year would be my second year teaching.
Current Lesson Plan/Unit:
Currently, Kindergarten through fifth grade is working on a hockey unit. I have taught the lower elementary how to hold the hockey sticks and use them appropriately and the upper elementary students how to play the game of floor hockey and what the positions are. My middle school students have just finished a soccer unit where they learned how to play soccer. We used the sport education model, so certain students were able to be coaches for their teams and practice skills needed to be successful in gameplay.
Focus for 2017:
I did not have a specific focus for the year because we did not have a gym the first half of the year as it was being remodeled and we didn’t have a whole lot of equipment either. My main focus was just to get the students used to participating in structured activities once we were able to use the gymnasium, since previously they were just given basketballs and told to play for physical education class. I hope that I have inspired them in some way this school year to participate in a new sport or physical activities.
Favorite Lesson Plan/Unit:
My favorite unit to teach so far has been hockey. Growing up I had a teacher in elementary school who implemented a floor hockey program after school and I take a lot of his ideas and use them in my lessons for the students during their physical education class. Watching the students learn a new sport is fulfilling to me and makes me feel accomplished. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the students about the game of floor hockey and watching them participate and have fun. In our community, students aren’t used to sports other than basketball and football, so seeing them play hockey and actually enjoy it is amazing.
What is your favorite part about being a PE teacher?
My favorite part about being a P.E. teacher is watching the students learn and learning from the students. Occasionally I will see a student shout out my name and want to show me a new trick they learned from participating in a physical activity or they want to show me how well they can do the learning cues given to them. I love when students get excited about the things that I am teaching them. I love listening to their stories about how they were practicing at home or showing off to members of their household what they learned in physical education class.
Here are some photos of the students doing a recent unit on rackets and another unit on fitness which they were training for the fitnessgram tests. There’s also a photo of some students practicing hockey skills and middle school students practicing basketball skills for our basketball unit. I take photos every time we do a new unit just to show the parents on the schools facebook page what they are learning in gym class.
